Sab

This tale of a slave’s unrequited love for the woman who owns him is set in 19th-century colonial Cuba. It was the only feminist-abolitionist novel published during the century in Spain or its colonies. It appeared at the height of the abolitionist campaign in Britain, but was largely ignored until recent times. Sab was a pioneer novel in that it was not concerned with merely improving the treatment of slaves or even putting an end to the trade with Africa. It is an impassioned declaration of human rights, arguing that people have a fundamental right to liberty, irrespective of social status, gender or skin colour. This new annotated critical edition provides the original Spanish text along with a substantial and authoritative introduction in English, as well as maps and tables relating to nineteenth-century Cuba, a vocabulary list, and suggestions for further reading. This text raises important issues concerning power, race, gender and class in colonial societies, colonial and post-colonial subjectivity and identities, feminist appropriations of the abolitionist agenda, human rights discourse, and literary and philosophical issues associated with enlightenment thought.